Helsinki/Turku - 10/22

Last day here. Well, half day. My train to Turku left at noon so I still had half a day to explore the city. After saying goodbye to Anna I headed to the city center. I realized I hadn't seen the southern part of the city and there is supposed to be a cool park there so I walked around a bit. Once again beautiful weather.

 
There was a recommended cafe on the edge of the water but there was no outside seating! Screw that, I want to spend my last hour in Helsinki enjoying the sunshine. After wandering around the park some more I went back to the fish market. There's a really cool tent set up that sells coffee. Sitting in the sun drinking really strong Finnish coffee and eating a traditional donut was a really good way to end my time there. The city is a lot busier when it's really nice out. Duh.

Crumb Thieves

Time to do some souvenir shopping. I really wanted to buy a corny 'traditional' Finnish hat from a vendor but they were actually really ugly, not cool for $30. Oh well, I have my postcards, memories and photos.

The train to Turku wasn't as spectacular as I had hoped for. Sure, the Finnish countryside is nice but it's not too different than Denmark; mostly farmland and fields. The most exciting part was listening to Finnish radio. I didn't feel like using the battery on my MP3 player so I plugged into the train. The first thing I hear: Nightwish! So cool being in a country that not only has no problem with metal but plays my favorite bands on the radio. Really exciting to hear it like that.

I didn't know what to expect from Turku. It's the second biggest city in Finland, but that really doesn't mean much. I had 6 hours there and I thought that would be perfect. Arrived at 3pm and the big castle closed at 4 so I ran to the bus and made it just in time. Castle was pretty cool, nothing too special but it's the biggest tourist attraction so I had to see it.

Made it back into the city to start exploring and look for dinner. Saw the Cathedral and the main square with the walking streets, and riverfront etc.Couldn't find the place I wanted to eat at and the recommended bar didn't serve food. Hadn't eaten in about 6 hours but still wasn't ready to go down the kebab path. Saw a Viking themed restaurant, really couldn't say no even though it was kinda pricey. For some stupid reason they didn't serve mead but the food was actually incredible. Goat cheese salad and game stew with rabbit, deer and bacon.

 

So, I've explored the vast majority of the city, seen the two biggest sites and eaten dinner....in 3 hours. Still 3 hours to go, great. It was getting pretty cold and dark so I just needed to find someplace to sit. Found the local mall and just sat on a bench and read for about an hour. Decided to walk along the river to the ferry terminal and still got there an hour before check in.

I had to make my reservation for the ferry by calling some office in Copenhagen because for whatever reason the ferry line doesn't do online booking, even though they are the biggest ferry line in the Baltic. The phone reservation gave me a bad feeling but I figured people are more trustworthy than the internet. Right? Nope.

The lady at check in told me the reservation was for the night before. Great. She had to ask her manager just if I could get on the boat...this doesn't sound good for getting a bed. She let me on and then I had to put my name on a waiting list for a bed in case someone didn't show up. Got a room! 'That will be six Euro' 'I'm sorry did you say six or sixty?' 'Six' For a 11 hour cruise with a room it cost me $30 total! That's cheaper than any of the hostels I stayed at. Nice surprise. I was imagining watching the islands go by while standing on the deck. Duh, it was night, couldn't really do that. Time for bed before Sweden!

Helsinki - 10/21

Had a full day of touristy stuff lined up and I was pretty excited for it. The first stop is the biggest tourist attraction in the city, the fortress of Suomenlinna. It's an old fortress built on an island just south of the city by the Swedes and taken over by the Russians. It was called Sveaborg (sea castle in Swedish) but the Finns changed its name when they had their revolution in 1918. Suomenlinna means the Fortress of Finland (Suomi is Finland) which is a cool name, but kind of ironic when you realize that the Finns had nothing to do with its construction. I had to take a ferry to get there, and it seemed that apart from about 5 Japanese people I was the only tourist.

People thought I was crazy to coming to Finland this time of year, but it was amazing being at such a big tourist site and being practically the only one there. I spent a few hours just wandering around the ramparts and hanging out by the water. I made a playlist of all my Finnish music and listened to it the whole day. Turns out 25% of my music collection comes from here! Pretty cool. I think that's some of the most fun I've ever had by myself. Exploring beautiful ruins in Helsinki while listening to my favorite music. I'm pretty sure I had a smile on my face the whole time.

 

Now that it was no longer Monday I could actually go to some of the museums. My goal was to limit myself to 1 museum per city unless it was free. I chose the Kiasma museum of modern art. I don't really get modern art, but it looks cool so why not?

Translated: Black on Black, a picture of you.

My favorite piece. After seeing DO NOT TOUCH all over the place, there was a sign that read: Please, take a piece and half the room was filled with licorice. Now that is good art.

The next biggest tourist attraction is the Sibelius monument. Not a lot of famous people come from Finland but when they do, they make sure you know about them. Sibelius is a composer from the early 1900s. The monument is a kind of organ type thing. Again, I was the only person there! I heard that this place is crawling with tourists in the summer so I felt pretty special being there all alone.

Next up is the Olympic stadium. Wasn't really that interested in seeing it but the top of the tower is supposed to have the best view of the city. It was great, but a little too cloudy to be anything amazing.

Walked through an old neighborhood with traditional Finnish houses on my way to the Kallio district.

Kallio is the 'hip' area that every city has. Seattle has Capital Hill, NYC has the east village, Copenhagen has Norrebro and Helsinki has Kallio. My main reason for going there was to partake in a traditional Finnish sauna. Saunas are immensely popular in the country and just about every hotel and apartment has one. The tour book recommended the oldest one in the city and the only one to still use traditional wood fire instead of electric heat.

It was definitely an experience. Coming from the states I'm not that used to nudity, especially when it's all middle aged guys. Man, it was hot. I've been in saunas before but this was ridiculous. I couldn't even breathe through my nose because the steam would burn my nostrils.

What you're supposed to do is go in and come out a few times. Obviously it's bad to spend more than a few minutes in 180 degree heat. After my second time I was cooling down in the locker room and a local started a conversation with me. Kind of interesting talking to a naked stranger but he was nice and had been to Seattle before.

Anna wanted to meet me for coffee so went back to the city center to explore a bit more before meeting her. Found a Hesburger, a Finnish hamburger chain and decided to try it. I'm not going to count it as fast food because it's a 100% Finnish chain. Wasn't very good and gave me a stomach ache. That's what I get. Met with Anna at the cafe and she wouldn't let me pay for coffee, what a nice girl. And so begins my addiction to coffee. I used to hate it but when you're cold and tired, it's pretty good.

Headed home and relaxed a bit before going out that night. It was raining a bit, but just Seattle rain so I could handle it. Went back to Kallio and had a metal bar in mind. Found the place called Tauku and it was by far the coolest bar I have ever been to. Metal posters all over the walls and a jukebox with an amazing selection. They had my favorite Czech beer too! Awesome. Sitting in a Helsinki bar, listening to Finnish metal and drinking my favorite beer. Does life get any better? I planned on staying only an hour but I couldn't tear myself away until the very last tram home.

Got to the tram station and the last 2 were canceled! Great. Luckily there was a girl about my age waiting for the same tram going to the same stop. Funny how these things always work out for me. When you're traveling alone, you are never really alone. She just moved to the city from Turku and helped me find the right bus to get on. Man, Finnish people are nice. After another great day I was already missing this city.

Helsinki - 10/20

An 8am flight meant that I woke up at around 5. Quadruple checked my bag and I was good to go! I have never been so excited for anything so the hour and a half flight seemed to take an age. Finland was beautiful from the air, totally flat like Denmark but lakes EVERYWHERE, and this wasn't even the lake district. Arrived at the airport at just before 11-Finland is an hour ahead-and caught the bus into town. I was really lucky with the weather, sunny and as warm as it could possibly be for this time of the year this far north. I had my tour book so I kind of followed a walking tour it recommended. Started off at the fish market and explored a good section of the city from there. Most of the sights were churches but apparently everything is closed on Mondays in Finland so I couldn't really go inside.

The Presidential Palace

The coolest church was this half underground one built basically like a cave. Helsinki has all these rocky outcrops all over the place and an architect decided to turn one into a church. At this point I was starving but all the places recommended in my book were closed! Stupid Mondays. Eventually I made my way back to the city center and found Cafe Zetor, a tractor-themed restaurant that serves only Finnish food.

Helsinki is pretty cool, similar to Copenhagen with more interesting architecture. The city has fantastic transportation even though it's relatively small. I had heard that the nordic cities aren't very happening this time of year so it was weird seeing a capital city with so few people around.

Part of the reason I embarked upon this journey across Scandinavia is because of my love for metal. All of the biggest and best metal bands in the world come from these countries so obviously there is a lot more culture surrounding it. It seems a very large amount of Finnish males are metalheads. Just about every other guy I saw had either long hair, a band tee or camo pants (considered very metal in Finland).

I found a website called the Heavy Metal Travel Guide which lists pubs, shops and clubs where they are at the least sympathetic to metal. My first stop was Hellsinki, a metal clothing store. Pretty cool, but $40 for a t-shirt is a bit over the top.

I had plans to couchsurf with a girl named Anna who lived just north of the city. I had a few hours left before our agreed meeting time so I decided to walk the rest of the way to her place. It was about 3 miles but I enjoy walking and exploring so I figured why not. I would really regret this later. It was a bit hard finding her place. I had a basic idea of where she lived but her street didn't exist according to Google Maps so I had to use a Finnish trip planner site so figure out about where it is. I actually found it after walking in circles for a bit. Basically a log cabin surrounded by some apartments.

She wasn't home and I wasn't 100% sure if it was the right place but her really nice neighbor let me use her phone and assured me that this was in fact where Anna lives. She showed up 10 minutes later and greeted me with a hug, I could already tell that this would be a great experience. She took me upstairs and showed me her place. She gave me my own bed, cooked me dinner and even let me take a shower! Beyond any of my expectations. Anna is a 23 year old school teacher who works only so she can afford to travel. She's been basically everywhere and is working right now so she can spend a few months in India. She's a vegan and a really sweet person. I couldn't have asked for a nicer host.

Now the full day of walking with a huge backpack had finally caught up with me; I was ready for bed at 9pm. Hung out with Anna a bit and went to bed early. So far so good, I survived my first day of lone travel.